As things came to settle in Zephyr's room, he got himself dressed, and Okio did the same. Led back into the main hall by Freya, the fiend stood before the heroes while the Capra offered them chairs. Her body still red with the flush of everything that had happened, struggled to find her footing for a bit, thus leading Freya to help her with the task, all the while her true identity was scarcely covered by the mask.
Tension was building in the silence of the hall, and breaking it wasn't the hero or his companions but the sudden arrival of Aura through the entrance. Walking in with a bag of purchased goods as well as an empty pouch in hand, she glanced around the room and tried to figure out what was going on.
"Didn't expect guests at this hour, but by all means–get comfortable," gesturing them to continue on, she quickly set the bags on the counter and stood beside Zephyr. Having taken a peek through their memories, Aura now knew more than her husband, and so to make things even more awkward, she held a smirk and tugged on Freya's arm. "Care to take a seat, Miss Forced to be working for us?"
Narrowing her gaze, the mascot woman stared at the devil until she realized that Aura was trying to mock Rudy over his last visit. But before she could say a word, she was forced into the edge of Zephyr's chair and then slipped onto his lap. Struck with shock, her body froze in place. Meanwhile, looking at Rudy Aura added.
"She's gonna sit and show you how much she loves our master, as much as Okio and I, even–minus the nightly visits, but we're gonna work on it soon, ahaha!" Though a blush appeared on Rudy's face, what he had to say could not wait any longer. Thus, ignoring the mascot's angry glare at the archmaiden, he started to talk about what they'd seen in the forest.
'This bitch again!!' Simming with anger, Freya didn't hear a word of what Rudy said. Her mind only focused on the unintentional brush of Custer's hand against her back as he listened closely to the hero's story. 'Ahhh…I can't get up now. That would blow my cover. My own fault for wearing this outfit again for some gold, I guess.'
Swallowing her pride, she sat straight with her legs casually crossed. Her soft rump cushioned onto the fiend's thighs, and now that she was feeling more comfortable with the situation, the warmth from his body seeping into hers made her chest burn once again. The burn of his blood pressing against the deep cut of the outfit that revealed most of her ass burned against her raw thighs and the curves of her ass cheeks.
Flustered, she tried to keep herself together even though, after what she'd seen not long ago, her body wanted her to lean into that touch. And that feeling intensified when she felt Custer's hardness through his pants. The boy hadn't finished with Okio, and so his cock was far from satisfied.
'I-its poking me…' Closing her eyes, she tried to zone out of the room, and yet that very isolation of mind forced her to focus on Custer's dick. Warm with its tip rubbing against her buttocks. Trying to adjust the leather that dug between her buttocks, she attempted to mask the feeling, but instead, her hand directly brushed against his boner. 'Shit–was that?!'
Startled by its warmth, she sat upright. Lost to the feeling of that swollen tip, she decided that it was best to leave things as they were and move off Custer's thighs as soon as the hero takes his leave.
"We… saw these footprints by that camp," by the time Freya's anxiety eased a little, Rudy was done with the explanation and was handing Custer a thin piece of paper. Taking it in his left hand, the merchant leaned forward and, while doing so, to prevent Freya from falling off, he gripped her hips–making her blush once more. "A bit of water and some red clay in the footprints left behind by those monsters, and the result was just as you'd described."
The parchment was imprinted with numerous footprints, taken after the dry prints were soaked and given a deeper hue with red clay. Some larger, some smaller, and a few identical to humans, the footprints relayed little to the hero and his party; however, knowledgeable in the nuances of monsters, Zephyr instantly knew the type of beasts that they were dealing with.
"Kobolds, hobgoblins, most likely. Hooves, thick vines, and numerous other imprints are also there, could be a plant-based monster or hooven beasts like wild centaurs and such." Resting the parchment in front, Zephyr's hand caressed Freya on her side. Unaware of his own behavior, the fiend's habit roused the mascot's heart further. "More interesting than the monsters themselves is the fact that if you've found them next to each other, there's a pretty good chance that they're working together under something or someone much stronger."
"T-that's what I was afraid of…" Having heard of such cases, Charlotte was the first to admit her horror. Leaning forward in her chair with sweat beading down her face, she gulped heavily. "If someone is leading them, then we need to get the news to the capital. The academy might be able to help us repel these monsters!"
"You would think that they would, but…" chiming in, Aura culled that hope. "The person who asked us to ask you, to find traces of monsters, told us that no help was coming, and that is why they wanted to know for sure before leaving the city."
The party's eyes narrowed as their heads lifted to match Aura's mocking gaze. To think that the capital would so readily abandon them, none could've imagined it–or perhaps they could've if they weren't so blinded by the harsh reality that surrounds them. The capital only cared for the capital, and the same was true for the sages, and the only reason these towns surrounding it had any support from them was to use them as scouting posts for when a threat marches their way.
"She's right, even the document we signed to start this business gave the same impression." Squeezing Freya on her side, Zephyr unknowingly made her flinch. Yet holding her tongue, though her spine was zapped with a cold and sudden rush, she remained quiet. "Yours is a sacrificial town, a vanguard of sorts."
Still as the dew at the end of a stalactite, the room grew quiet. The party had not expected a sudden hurdle to fall at their feet. Yet here it was staring them in the face, and the only thing they could do was rely on a man that they barely knew, along with this mystery benefactor who'd given the quest to Zephyr to pass on to them.
"What do we do then?" Rudy asked, his voice raspy as a parrot.
Taking a moment to consider his next step, Zephyr's fingers squeezed even harder on Freya's hip, and although a subtle moan escaped her lips, nobody heard it thanks to the mask's voice-masking effect.
"We find them before they find us," Zephyr said, and with that came the first big hurdle faced by the so-called hero's party.